Milton Keynes Settlement Boundary Study November 2017 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 Quality information Prepared by Checked by Approved by Jesse Honey – Associate David Carlisle - Associate Ben Castell Charlotte Simpson – Planning Consultant Shane Scollard – Planning Consultant Revision History Revision Revision date Details Authorized Name Position First Draft 15/09/2107 For client review Jesse Honey Associate Draft Final Report 31/10/2017 For client sign off David Carlisle Associate Final Report xx/xx/2017 Final report for Ben Castell Director publication Distribution List # Hard Copies PDF Required Association / Company Name 2 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 Prepared for: Milton Keynes Council Saxon Court Offices 502 Avebury Boulevard Central Milton Keynes MK9 3HS Prepared by: Jesse Honey AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman Street, London E1 8FA UK aecom.com © 2016 AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited. All Rights Reserved. This document has been prepared by AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited (“AECOM”) for sole use of our client Milton Keynes Council (the “Client”) in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. No third party may rely upon this document without the prior and express written agreement of AECOM. 3 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR DOUBLE SIDED PRINTING . 4 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6 2. Methodology .................................................................................................................... 8 3. Proposed Settlement Boundaries for Plan:MK .............................................................. 13 4. Next Steps ..................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix- Settlement Boundary Mapping ............................................................................ 28 5 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 1. Introduction 1.1 Milton Keynes Council (MKC / ‘the Council’) is in the process of preparing a new Local Plan, known as Plan:MK, for the period to 2031. Plan:MK will: Update previous plans by incorporating new national planning policy and guidance; Provide for development requirements up to 2031, in particular identifying land in the district which is suitable for meeting housing and employment need; Plan positively for development, including the provision of infrastructure and community facilities; Identify areas for protection, such as important areas for wildlife conservation and key heritage assets. 1.2 Plan:MK will eventually supersede and replace the adopted Core Strategy (2013) and Local Plan (2005). 1.3 This document supports Plan:MK by reviewing settlement boundaries across Milton Keynes Borough for the purposes of planning policy and development management. As such, it is part of the evidence base supporting Plan:MK but does not itself comprise a policy document. It is a snapshot in time (2017) and it will eventually be superseded in the future. Study Objectives 1.4 The review of settlement boundaries across Milton Keynes will act as an important tool in identifying the interface between 'settlements' and 'countryside' for development management purposes. This has the effect of: directing inappropriate development away from rural areas (in line with paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework)1; and supporting appropriate development and change within existing or proposed urban areas. 1 Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdf. Note that otherwise, national policy does not address the specific issue of settlement boundaries, meaning that it falls to local authorities like Milton Keynes Council to determine what is an appropriate location for settlement boundaries based on relevant local evidence. 6 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 1.5 Following the review of settlement boundaries, where an application falls into the definition of ‘countryside’ it will be covered by appropriate countryside policy and thus needs to demonstrate it is appropriate in a countryside location. 1.6 .Settlement boundaries in Milton Keynes Borough were last formally reviewed in 1995, meaning this review is necessary in order to take account of new development and consents for development that have taken place between then and now. At Moulsoe no settlement boundary had previously been defined, and this review proposes one for the first time. 1.7 Maps of all settlements showing the 1995 (existing) settlement boundaries, the changes made to those boundaries through the current process, and proposed new (2017) settlement boundaries are set out in the Appendix of this report. 7 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 2. Methodology Basic criteria 2.1 To ensure that settlement boundaries are applied across Milton Keynes in a consistent and comprehensive way, criteria were set to inform how and where changes to the settlement boundaries across the Borough should be considered. These comprised the following: The 1995 settlement boundaries in the existing local plan being used as a starting point, with changes made to them only where evidence exists to support that change; The boundaries of Site Allocations within the emerging Plan:MK (none of which had been consented at the time of writing) and allocations within made neighbourhood plans; and Development consents for non-agricultural uses within or adjacent to existing built-up areas, both implemented and not implemented, affecting settlement boundaries between 1995 and present. 2.2 .The only exception to using the 1995 settlement boundaries as a starting point were at Moulsoe, which had no pre-existing boundary. 2.3 In addition to the above factors the approach included an analysis of mapping and building curtilages and built in verification stages with MKC and the Parish Councils. Development consents since 1995 2.4 The review of MKC’s online planning application search facility showed the boundaries of most (but not all) planning applications consented since the last settlement boundary review. Where a development had been consented but not implemented (i.e. permission was granted but no development resulted) the boundaries of the expired permission were nevertheless included within a revised settlement boundary because the principle of development in that location has been established. 2.5 It is also understood that an unspecified number of development consents exist between 1995 and the present day that pre-date the online planning application database, almost all dating from the years immediately following 1995. 2.6 In order to ensure these additional consents were also captured within the new settlement boundaries, comparisons were made between aerial imagery of development from the present day and the original mapping of settlement boundaries from 1995. This enabled a number of developments to be identified that, though 8 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 given consent since the last settlement boundary review, do not (for whatever reason) appear in the online planning application database. 2.7 In order for a development consent to amend the existing settlement boundary, it had to pass two tests: Firstly, it had to comprise development of, or change of use to, a non- agricultural land use, using the planning use classes as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended)2; and Secondly, the consent had to be directly adjacent to the existing settlement boundary. 2.8 So, for example, if twenty new dwellings (use class C3) had been consented adjacent to but outside the 1995 boundary of any settlement, the boundary was extended to recognise that the development now forms part of that urban area. However, if new farm buildings (use class sui generis and appropriate for the countryside policy area) had been consented adjacent to but outside the 1995 boundary of a settlement, the boundary remained unchanged. 2.9 Employing use classes allowed for a consistent approach to planning consents since 1995 to be taken across the Borough, and were divided into ‘non-agricultural’ and ‘agricultural’ uses as set out in Table 1. 2 For further information, see https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/9/change_of_use 9 Milton Keynes Council Settlement Boundary Study – November 2017 Table 1: Division of planning use classes into ‘non-agricultural’ and ‘agricultural’ uses for the purposes of the Milton Keynes Settlement Boundary Review Planning use class Use class description Result if post-1995 consent adjacent to but outside existing settlement boundary A Shops, professional and Boundary amended to financial services, include new consent restaurants and cafes, drinking establishments and hot food takeaways B Business, general Boundary amended to industrial, storage and include new consent distribution C Dwellings